


Be The X To Your O

by Rainbow_star_tea



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music, Cheese, Composing, Fluff, Fluff so much fluff, M/M, Musical Instruments, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 13:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_star_tea/pseuds/Rainbow_star_tea
Summary: Baekhyun can sing really well. Chanyeol can compose really well. Yixing is just nice and Chen is Chen. Trouble ensues.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any of the characters, company names etc... only own the story idea lol.
> 
> So i kinda went a bit bonkers with this one, i hope you enjoy it. the amount of fluff in this is crazy and thankyou N for dealing with my cringe inducing fluff and for helping edit.

Chanyeol was casually loading up his car on the warm evening. the grocery store barely blocked out the bright golden orange rays of sunshine that spread over the town. Once Chanyeol had loaded all his groceries into the boot of his car, and had put the cart back he sighed. Friday nights were nice and calming, he thought as he looked up into the inky pink sky. he finally got into his car and drove off from the department store, humming along to the new BTS song that was on the radio. he stilled at a red light half way back to home and looked around. the sunlight lit up everything in this area and on his left there seemed to be some sort of protest in the park. He pondered on it for a while. there were people holding up signs and screaming, as the police tried to push them back. unfortunately for the people the police were pushing back and were now fending them off, trying to push them out of the park area. As he watched protesters streamed out of the park as the police started to give chase. Chanyeol was mildly concerned for people that were now streaming out onto the road, and about his car. unfortunately for him, before he knew there was a boisterous young man running on the road, who appeared to be yelling at the police who were following the protesters. Chanyeol saw as the man held up his middle finger at the police man, who then ran towards the man, apparently angered. The man, now had a look of pure horror on his face, which made Chanyeol grin. the man turned away from the incoming police man, and ran straight onto the road and into Chanyeol's door. Chanyeol was about to yell at the man to piss of, when the protester opened up the door, and jumped in, screaming "DRIVE FUCKING DRIVE!"

Chanyeol, to startled to do anything else, looked back at the front of the rod, saw the green light, and drove. the man in the back seat was panting slightly, dark hair fluffed up, and slight smile blessing his lips. Chanyeol turned back to the man briefly to take him in. he didn't look dangerous, and was rather small, but with eyes that seemed to flash like a wild cats. Chanyeol gulped. "Why. The fuck. Are you. in my car."

"Oh I'm sorry, the damn police man seemed to be chasing me, and I'm not built for that sort of thing, you know?"

Chanyeol didn't know, and was wondering why he still had this man in his car. All he had planned to do after work was to get the groceries, stay at him to watch movies and sleep. Apparently that wasn't going to happen. He sighed and wondered why on earth him. this damn rascal could have gotten into anyone's damn car, but why his? He looked back briefly to find the man rifling through the food bags. Severely pissed now at the mess he was making, Chanyeol decided to drop this ass off at he next red light. "Sit down." Chanyeol almost growled, voice dropping low. "stop rifling for food, and put on your damn seat belt."

"What the hell's a seat belt?"

Chanyeol's eyes almost popped out of his head as he turned back to gap at the stranger. Did this man seriously think he was stupid enough to believe he didn't know what a seat belt was? He was about to say this when he was greeted with the sight of the man fiddling with the device as if it was just discovered. Shutting his mouth and looking back at the road he silenced his complaint as he saw the man in the rear view mirror finally figure out where it went and sat down properly. 

They were silent for a few moments before the man in the back seat fidgeted and looked at Chanyeol. "So."

"What."

"Why haven't you kicked me out yet?"

Chanyeol was only slightly taken back by the question, because the man seemed like he was used to asking it, and not getting a good answer. then Chanyeol did wonder why he did still have a stranger in his car, and why he was tolerating it.

"Ah..." Chanyeol answered intelligently, making the stranger grin. this pissed Chanyeol of for some reason, probably because internally he was killing himself for being so awkward around hot people. And oh god did he just call this complete and utter, unruly stranger attractive? Apparently he had, bit luckily only in his mind.

"Actually I plan to throw you out on the next red light." The stranger didn't really seem to be thrown by this answer, and despite his constant smile, his eyes looked as if his heart hurt. Chanyeol almost felt like talking back his words. 

"Ah you asshole, that's not nice."

"Neither is having a complete stranger jump into your car." Chanyeol rebutted harshly.

"Oh fuck you." the man replied casually, holding up his middle finger towards Chanyeol in a relaxed manner. 

"Bite me." Chanyeol growled at the mans reflection.

the relpy brought a smirk to the strangers face, before he leaned closer to Chanyeol and whispered "where?"

Chanyeol took one hand off the steering wheel to try and whacked at the man who was sitting back, smirking as he cleaned his nails. Chanyeol was so done with this person, and could not wait for a red light.

 

|

 

Unfortunately for Chanyeol, there were no red lights what so ever on their trip. within five minutes they reached Chanyeol's house. A decent sized two bed-roomed house, on the outskirts of the town. Chanyeol got out of the car and rounded to the door to the strangers seat, and opened it to find the man wrestling with the seat belt like a child. Chanyeol leaned over him to unclick it and the man happened out of the car behind him, looking around him to take in the view. Chanyeol's house faced out onto the country side, and the driveway looked into the town, the shorter man seemed to be in awe of the amount of vast land on Chanyeol's property, and just stared out into the night sky, marveling at the fat that one person could own all of this, with no houses in sight, and be almost completely isolated from the world. 

 

Chanyeol was busy unloading the car as the stranger stared out. He removed everything from the car and closed the boot and locked the car. He cleared his throat as he lifted up a few shopping bags, trying to catch the attention of the stranger. Luckily the man turned around to face him, looking at him questioningly. Chanyeol felt a bit awkward, so he reverted his gaze back to the shopping bags on the gravel. "You could help by picking those up." 

He looked back up to find the man staring at him, head on a tilt. "Why would i need to help you with you groceries?" the stranger questioned, still seeming to be working through what Chanyeol might be implying. 

"Well if your going to be staying here the least you could do is help out."

The stranger still looked slightly confused, but a new found smile was now spread across his face as he picked up the bags and skipped the length to the house.  
Chanyeol followed suit, and hopped up the few steps form the patio to the door. he dropped the bags and fiddled with the key chin before finding the right key and unlocking the house. He let the door swing open as he retrieved the bags from the floor, took off his shoes, turned on the lights and walked straight for the kitchen. He dumped all the bags there and looked up to see if his 'guest' was following, to find the man gaping at the size of Chanyeol's house. Despite it only having two bedrooms, it was incredibly large. the man was standing in the door way staring into the former living room, now composing room, that held all of Chanyeol's instruments and equipment. the man looked in awe at his collection, mouth agape. Chanyeol walked back towards him, and grabbed a few of the bags of his arms, bringing him out of his stupor. 

"It's impressive isn't it?"

the stranger hummed in response and followed Chanyeol into the kitchen, putting down his bags, leaving him to just awkwardly stand there. "So, ah, veggies go in the fridge, dry stuff goes in the pantry and so on. if you can put everything away I can make dinner?"

"Sure."

They set to work in silence, Chanyeol, too lazy to cook up a proper Korean dish just heated up water and decided to make spaghetti. He shoved the pasta sticks in and made the sauce, before resting for a short while. He lay back against the counter top as the man continued to pack away the food. He would occasionally put them in the wrong area of the cupboard, but Chanyeol couldn't bother correcting the man. The man didn't seem to notice as Chanyeol took him in. He was wearing dirty clothes that were probably two sizes too big for him, and was reasonably small in stature. The man wasn't unattractive, Chanyeol decided, with his pale complexion and bright eyes. 

Chanyeol mulled over it for a while before he heard the water boiling over, and immediately went to the stove. He frantically removed the lid on the pot and sighed in relief when the water stopped foaming over. He turned around to go grab plates to see the small man shaking with laughter. "What." Chanyeol said grumpily.

"Maybe I should have been the one cooking." The stranger said, still laughing, eyes crinkling up into crescents. Chanyeol didn't have the heart to stay mad, and felt his features softening as he grabbed two plates and dished out the food.

 

Chanyeol set the food on the table and grabbed the cutlery as the stranger finished and sat down. The man took the utensils gratefully and started eating. Chanyeol sat down and started eating while contemplating how weird it was that he had a complete and utter stranger in his home. Someone whose name he didn't even know, one thing at a time he thought. Chanyeol had so many questions, but he could only ask one at a time. Deciding to actually interact with the man chanyeol looked up to see him now scarfing down food. 

"So" Chanyeol said tentatively, not sure how he felt about the man, well really kid, eating like a wolf. He had caught the man's attention when he started talking and continued his sentence.

"Whats your name?"

"Oh, ah I'm Baekhyun." the man said plainly in between bites. "What about you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm chanyeol." Chanyeol didn't know why he was tell a complete stranger his name, but for some reason felt like it would be fine. 

"So why were there protests at the park?" Come to think of it, why were people protesting at the park? it was usually a peaceful place in Chanyeol's mind and nothing ever really happened there so he didn't really know why people would be rioting there. he looked to Baekhyun for answers.

Baekhyun was still trying to swallow the food in his mouth, but once he had actually chewed and swallowed he began talking. "So, the city is planning to upgrade a bit, since this side is small and sorta drifts into this farmland, so they plan to make it bigger and more inviting to visitors. so apparently they're building an apartment complex smack bang in the middle of the park." As Baekhyun talked animatedly he waved his hands around in drastic motions symbolising the happenings.

"So why does that affect you?" Chanyeol asked still perplexed as to how that apartment building would have any effect on the man in front of him whatsoever.

"Ah you see, the council owns the land, and are selling off to big companies and such to build, but there are a whole bunch of us that live at the park and are trying to prevent the companies form talking the only safe area in this city away from us." Baekhyun didn't seem particularly grudged towards the companies, instead an evil glint had appeared in his eye, making chanyeol think that he was up to no good. 

"When you say you live there, do you mean your homeless?" Chanyeol asked blatantly, not really worried about offending the boisterous man.

Just as Chanyeol suspected Baekhyun wasn't offended in the slightest. Simply responding with a "Yep," and went back to eating. There was a comfortable silence for a while, allowing Chanyeol's mind to wander into unknown places. Why was that the only safe place? Was there really that many people living there? and the biggest question of all that plagued his mind was why is this man living there?

He decided to ask the last question that came to him, since it seemed relevant. He set down his cutlery since he was already finished and rested his chin on his hands as he waited for Baekhyun to finish. the man finished mere moments later, looked up, smiled at chanyeol and gathered up the plates. Chanyeol hadn't expected his house guest to have such good manners, but it was welcomed. 

He trailed after Baekhyun into the kitchen where the smaller was rinsing off the dishes, leaning them on the side. Chanyeol joined him and started shoving the plates and pans into the dish washer.

"why are you living there?" Chanyeol decided to ask as they were working. He was putting a pot into the dish washer when he realised Baekhyun had become frozen. He peered at the man and tapped him lightly. "Hello? Baekhyun?"

"I think id like to go to sleep now." Baekhyun said suddenly, all happiness and emotion drained from his face, making him look unusually pale and sickened. Chanyeol realised he had crossed a barrier and let the man into the spare bedroom upstairs and said goodnight. Chanyeol headed back down and finished cleaning up, silently telling himself to stop prying so much and to respect other peoples privacy. once he was done he headed up to his room, changed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning chanyeol woke up to the smell of cooking eggs and sizzling bacon. He stumbled out of bed and almost down the stairs, luckily righting himself before that happened. he headed down and was greeted with Baekhyun's full smile. "good morning!" the man said cheerily, apparently completely over his episode last night. Chanyeol nodded and headed around the counter into the kitchen, searching blindly for the coffee maker, only to find Baekhyun handing him freshly made cup. "I got up early, and thought i should probably make breakfast. it's the least i can do." Baekhyun said as if it were an explanation. Chanyeol took a few sips of coffee and felt instantly better as the caffeine got into him. He sat down at the counter and sipped his coffee as he watched baekhyun scurry around the kitchen making food, and occasionally coming over to chat. The man was rather a friendly person, chanyeol decided as Baekhyun chatted on and on about the most random things, and asking Chanyeol about his life, family and jumping from topic to topic.

"So why do you look like you stole an entire orchestras instruments and store them in your living room?"

"I compose." Chanyeol replied, nonchalantly.

"ooh, that's amazing! do you sing as well? I love singing its one of my favourite things to do! and apparently I'm quite good at it, or so people tell me." Baekhyun chirped as he served out the food onto plates. 

"Actually I do sing a bit," Chanyeol said plainly. "But most of the time I compose for idol groups, soloists, rappers, so on. I basically do the whole lot."

Chanyeol stood up and followed Baekhyun towards the table, only noticing then that he was in the same clothes he was in yesterday. "thats amazing! that sounds like such a fun job. and it seems like it pays well too." Baekhyun said waving his hands around to gesture to Chanyeol's house.

"Yeah. yeah, it does." chanyeol replied, slightly still in his morning fog. 

They ate comfortably for a while before Chanyeol asked Baekhyun's age, believing that for sure the tiny man couldn't be over 18. 

"well I'm almost 23. so old, right?" he said cheekily.

"Oh my god!"Chanyeol exclaimed rather loudly, making Baekhyun look at him with a funny look, as the dumbfounded giant just stared at him, eyes wide with mouth a perfect o. "i thought you were 17 or something!"

Baekhyun laughed at this, and asked in turn how old chanyeol himself was. He wasn't really surprised to find out that the man was actually younger than him, but the man himself seemed to be so stunned by the fact that the tiny, boyish looking man was older than himself. Once they had chatted for awhile, and found out a little about each other, they cleaned up, standing side by side washing dishes.

"you know you can stay if you want." Chanyeol said out of the blue. Baekhyun looked surprised for a moment, half way through sentance, then turned to chanyeol and gave him a huge smile and a big hug, making the man grimace in dismay as suds got all over his shirt. 

 

They soon finished cleaning up and Chanyeol offered to give baekhyun some of his clothes, rifling through his wardrobe for something that would fit him. after much searching, they realised that since Chanyeol was probably a head and a half above Baekhyun and about twice as wide, most things would not fit or would look incredibly baggy. So Chanyeol handed him the stuff that would fit and offered to take him to the mall.

Chanyeol allowed Baekhyun time to get changed and headed towards outside, putting on his shoes and waiting for the man, who soon rocketed down the stairs. The other man in turn shoved on his old sandals and they headed towards the car. 

After a few minutes of driving they left the quieter, more country part of the city behind and entered the urban area. All around them glassy buildings rose up with flashing billboards and smartly dressed people. After driving for what felt like hours, Chanyeol miraculously found a parking spot and they headed out for the mall. As they entered Baekhyun was in awe, his mouth agape as he took in the size of the place. there were shops lining every wall, until they went out of sight and at least twenty floors of clothing, food, home, department stores and any other type you could imagine. They had been standing there only a moment when Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun's hand, almost like an excited puppy, showing him around to his personal favourite clothing stores.Baekhyun hadn't seen him like this before, but was grateful he could see it, as the man with now a huge grin on his face led him from one place to another, dodging in and out. They finally stopped at one store and actually headed in properly, allowing Baekhyun to look for clothes. They searched through the store until Baekhyun had found a few nice shirts, pants and some underwear, as well as a pair of shoes to replace his current ones. They headed towards the counter to pay for the items, Chanyeol grabbing his credit card. The lady behind the desk was kind and talked nicely as they checked everything out, but then ruffled Baekhyun's hair as they turned to leave. The smaller man huffed as they exited the store, mumbling under his breath how he was not a child, making Chanyeol laugh.

The pair headed up to the food court and grabbed an ice cream each before heading back to the car. they walked leisurely, taking in the shops and people that passed. once they reached the car they hopped in, Baekhyun sitting at the front.

Sunday went quietly by, with the two of the just becoming closer, and watching old reruns of dramas and movies until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

the week itself too went fine, since Chanyeol was just staying at home to compose and didn't have meetings with anyone, meaning that he didn't have to leave Baekhyun alone. they settled into a ryther fairly quickly, with Baekhyun cooking breakfast then heading outside as Chanyeol composed for a good solid four or five hours, and Baekhyun preparing dinner again before they headed to bed. They continued like this for about a week or two, until Baekhyun came in early to prepare beef, to find Chanyeol recording himself singing for the new song he was composing. His deep voice spreading out across the house, and soothing Baekhyun. Baekhyun walked over to see what the song was, ad was greeted with a funny look from Chanyeol, as he leaned over the man's shoulder to take a look at the lyrics. He straightened up and began singing. 

"Hello angel, you’re like a painting

You’re all I see when I look to the skies-"

He stopped when he realised that Chanyeol was blatantly staring at him, eyes looking as if they could bulge out of their sockets.

|

From then on Baekhyun sang for the demo tapes.

|

Mere minutes later Chanyeol was relaxing into the sound of Baekhyun's voice as it wafted through the air. Chanyeol laid back in his chair and closed his eyes and relished the sound. Unfortunately Baekhyun stopped, the song ended, and dinner finished. Chanyeol continued to lay there for a moment, listening to the sound of Baekhyun scampering to the kitchen before sighing and pushing himself out of the chair.

Baekhyun handed Chanyeol the chopsticks and side dishes. Baekhyun brought over the main dish of beef and they sat in silence to relish the food.

Chanyeol was relaxed and Baekhyun was frigidly taking food as chanyeol contemplated his guest.

How does he know how to cook? why am i only realising this now? Why hasn't he been singing? How has he survived this long? Why was he there in the first place?

Deciding that a lot of those were too personal, and barely a fraction of his questions were ask worthy, Chanyeol decided to just start with one.

"If you lived at the the park so long, how do you know how to cook?" he asked, incredibly seriously, catching Baekhyun with beef stuffed into his mouth. 

"I-" Baekhyun started, only to end up coughing, covering his mouth to stop from coughing up the rest of the beef in his mouth. Chanyeol quickly got up and came over to pat Baekhyun to stop him, Chanyeol thought, from dying.

"You okay?"

"Yep, yeah," Baekhyun replied slightly hoarsely, still chewing. "Was just eating."

"oh." Chanyeol realised sheepishly and retreated back to his seat. "yeah."

"So," Baekhyun started, still seeming in the mood to talk. "Well, i watched my parents cook when i was really really young, and i still needed money to live so i often cooked for a job, since it was something i knew i could do."

they sat there for a moment, Baekhyun seeming to be in remembrance and chanyeol slowly chewing the food in his mouth, contemplating what he had been told.

"Okay." Was the ending of their conversation, only breaking the comfortable silence when each of them bid the other good night.

|

Within a few days they had worked each other into their own schedule, with Chanyeol reguarly calling Baekhyun in to sing, and Baekhyun making Chanyeol cook with him. 

They were sitting out on the grass in the sunshine on a lazy Sunday morning, Baekhyun was napping, the sun illuminating his face as Chanyeol plotted in notes and new lyrics. He was deep in concentration, trying to change the lyrics to match the given beat and humming softly when his phone buzzed, signalling the arrival of a text.

Chanyeol looked up, eyebrows furrowed, unhappy for his concentration having been broken. He picked up the phone, pressing the home button, illuminating the screen. 

 

twat: company's ordered me to pay the king of production a visit

see u tue >.<

chan chan: gr8 see u then 

1?

twat: d(^v^)b

"Who was that?" the question brought chanyeol back to the real world, making him look away from his phone and to Baekhyun who still had his face pressed into the grass and appeared to be napping. He stayed silent and a moment later Baekhyun's head swivelled around so that he was able to look at Chanyeol, grass imprints covering his cheek.

Chanyeol smiled and replied that it was someone he worked with.

"Why were they texting you on a Sunday? Jeez you're supposed to be allowed to rest around now", Baekhun whined and dropped his head back onto the grass with a huff, making Chanyeol laugh.

"Well this person was asking to come and visit on Tuesday, so they needed to make sure we were available."

"Will they be staying for dinner?"

"Maybe? I don't really know"

"Well that's helpful of you", Baekhyun said sarcastically.

"I'll cook extra anyway"

"Thanks Baek"

Despite the two men getting increasingly closer, Chanyeol was still weary about leaving Baekhyun here, and was only glad that this meeting was at their house rather than out, since he was still, in the back of his mind, worried that the house would be empty when he got back.

Monday was spent organising for their coming guest. Well, sort of. Baekhyun woke up bright and early as usual and set out to make a cold breakfast so that he could start cleaning before Chanyeol woke up. Unfortunately for Baekhyun , that was exactly what happened, singing to himself loudly over the din of the vacuum cleaner, only to find Chanyeol laughing himself to death at the bottom of the staircase. 

Baekhyun blushed slightly, feigning annoyance as he went and switched off the vacuum cleaner. "What's so funny?", Baekhyun said tonelessly, clearly not happy, but secretly praying that the laughing mess wasn't because of his singing.

"Oh my God, why are you cleaning?" Chanyeol said from the floor.

"You said you're having a guest right?"

"Yeah but I see him really often, we work together a lot, went to college together and besides, his house is about ten times messier than mine"

By the end of Chanyeol's speech baekhyun realised that cleaning really wasn't necessary, but decided to continue anyway to not give in, mumbling out "Needed cleaning anyway", to justify his actions.

"Ahhh, okay then", Chanyeol smiled, "Besides, I need you to do a final demo track for this song, and we can't do that if the vacuum cleaner is on."

Baekhyun pondered over it for a moment before realising that Chanyeol was right, and even if he himself wasn't singing, Chanyeol needed quiet to work. A look of guilt spread across Baekhyun's face as he thought, making Chanyeol laugh. So for the rest of the day, no cleaning was done, the harsh sounds of cleaning machines stayed absent and were replaced with the beautiful sounds of music.

 

Baekhyun woke up early the next day, forcing Chanyeol out of bed too.

"Why the hell are you waking me up, for the love of god hes not that important," Chanyeol whined while being dragged down the staircase. "And if I keep this up he's gonna become even more arrogant than he already is"

"Isn't he meant to be your friend? Shouldn't you treat him nicely? Just maybe?" Baekhyun asked making Chanyeol sulk. "Anyway, I can guarantee you've slept in through one of these meetings, haven't you?"

Chanyeol didn't answer, but the small look of guilt that was covered by a mischievous smile was enough to tell.

"Jeez you're hopeless"

|

their guest came at around lunch time, and Baekhyun was rudely awoken to his presence when he jumped out and hit him.

"who the hell are you and what are you doing in Chanyeol's house?"

"what the fuck! the hell are you?"

"don't you recognise me?" the stranger asked, standing up straighter to strike a pose. "im chen."

"and i dint give a fuck, what the hell are you dong in our house?"

"well that was hurtful. and 'ours'?"

"yes," Baekhyun hissed, "I'm Chanyeol's roommate."

At this very convenient point Chanyeol came crashing in, trying to walk further before remembering he still had his connected headphones around his neck. he hastily took them off before he could choke himself and pulled baekhyun up from the floor before greeting chen, well jongdae.

"Jongdae, firstly how did you even get in here?"

"door was locked. i took the window." Jongdae pointed to the gaping window that led out to the patio.

"and why the hell did you attack Baekhyun?"

"oh yeah, um sorry about that Baekhyun," Jongdae/Chen said, turning to Baekhyun.

"It's fine, i mean I don't get attacked everyday, but thats fine." Baekhyun smiled just to show he was playing and Jongdae/Chen smiled back.

when they were done conversing jongdae ran over to the studio, fiddling with everything he could get his hands on, leaving Chanyeol to give an explanation.

"that is Kim Jongdae. he is signed with a large label company and is one of their most successful soloists under the name of chen. he performs in both Korea and China, and has done multiple collaborations with successful chinese artists including Lay, or Zhang Yixing."

Chanyeol paused for a moment to allow the information to sink in.

"wow if this guy has done so much how come I've never heard of him?"

"because you apparently live under a rock Baekhyun. he is currently topping korean chart for soloists and his songs play just about everywhere. other than that he's supposed to be handsome, so his trademark kitten lips and sharp cheek bones cover advertisements. Also, we went to the same university and have been friends ever since." Chanyeol smiled fondly at the memory of him and Jongdae having multiple sleepless nights with chanyeol composing and Jongdae being dragged along to sing. yes, the good old days.

"Everything a bit clearer now?" Chanyeol finally asked, starting to head towards the studio, only to be stopped by Jongdae sliding like a little kid up the hallway, barely missing crashing into chanyeol.

"Chanyeol!" Jongdae nearly screamed, "who the hell sings your demo tracks? they're amazing!"

Chanyeol smiled slightly and turned his gaze towards Baekhyun, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Jongdae followed his gaze and was so surprised that the tiny man could sing that well.

Jongdae smiled. "we've got to get you signed to a contract! god the crowds would love you!"

Baekhyun seemed to be startled by the proposition, and amongst the many great ideas Jongdae had, Chanyeol new this was not a good one. "I don't think that would be a good idea. not everyone suits the idol life," Chanyeol said, choosing his words carefully. "come on. we need to see what the hell holes have chosen for you to sing." 

Jongdae turned to Chanyeol who was still giving him a stern look. "yeah. the idol life isn't for everyone."

|

when they got inside the studio Jongdae pulled chanyeol to the side and asked exactly why he was opposed to Baekhyun becoming an idol. 

"its not because you think hes cute and you don't want anyone else to see him, right?"

chanyeol started to splutter out a "definitely not," but gave in when jongdae flashed his knowing smile. "well partly yes. but I have other reasons too." chanyeol thought, suddenly very sullen.

"You see Baekhyun was homeless. as far as I can tell he hasn't seen his family for a long, long time and doesn't seem to be on the best of terms with them."

"it's also because you either think or hope hes gay,"

"yeah that too." chanyeol smiled. 

"yeah then don't go idol. do you know how damn hard it is to hide my relationship with Yixing? like jesus i've done so many collaborations just to hide its not even funny." Jongdae still smiled at the thought of Yixing, even though the press would have a field day if they knew the truth.

"if you sincerely like him, and don't even deny it because I can tell, then man up. tell him. and under no circumstance let him become an idol."

they got back to actually working, Jongdae singing the tracks while chanyeol worked his magic. they kept it up for a good solid few hours before Jongdae got a call from Yixing to come meet him at the airport. Jongdae said his goodbyes and promised to come back to meet Baekhyun again.

Baekhyun already had dinner ready and waiting by the time chanyeol got back inside from ushering Jongdae to his car. they sat down, Baekhyun feeling comfortable and Chanyeol so incredibly nervous about what he had to say. 

Jongdae's words of advice "man up. tell him." danced in the back of Chanyeol's mind. he took a deep breath and started to talk.

"Baekhyun, you don't have to answer or tell me, but I'm interested in telling you my own, but what's your preference?"

"in what?" Baekhyun still wasn't concentrating on the conversation and more on the food.

"in partners." the silence was deafening, everything seemed to have stopped. Baekhyun was so scared that what had happened with his family would repeat with Chanyeol. the only person kind enough to have taken him in. to care for him, to feed him. and he didn't want that.

seeing Baekhyun's distress Chanyeol decided it was probably best to go first. "well I personally prefer men. have for ages. much more appealing."

Baekhyun, he didn't even know why just started laughing. Chanyeol, in that moment looked so baffled then suddenly, he burst out laughing too. Chanyeol and Baekhyun rolled around on the floor, clutching their stomachs laughing for a good 5 minutes before the both flopped flat, stomachs sore from laughing.

"oh man. I'm gonna get abs soon" Chanyeol complained, rubbing his sides

Baekhyun started to vibrate, shaking and trying to keep his laughter in, taking deep breaths until he finally calmed, somewhat down. "That," he said, "was very funny. but if I laugh it's gonna hurt."

"oh okay then."

They both lay there spread out like starfish in a comfortable silence, side by side, not even bothering to get up to eat.

"By the way," Baekhyun said after a while, prompting Chanyeol out of his light sleep. "I must agree on your preference. Women were never really my thing."

Now that really made Chanyeol laugh.

|

The next time Chen came over, not to record but to annoy the fuck out of Chanyeol, he brought Yixing along with him. Baekhyun still hadn't completely warmed up to even the idea of yixing, but he certainly was getting fonder of the man, especially when they were able to combined annoy the living shit out of chanyeol as Yixing laughed beside them.

Chen and Baekhyun sung merrily together in the kitchen later to Jongdae's latest song when it came on the radio as Yixing and Chanyeol sat at the table, staring fondly at each of them.

"He really is perfect for you," Yixing said quietly, just audible over the racket the two cooks were making.

"Yeah he is," chanyeol replied dreamily, making Yixing snicker.

"You better ask him out on a date soon," Yixing said, matter of factly.

Chanyeol silently agreed.

|

Soon the four of them found themselves sitting around the living room on various pieces of furniture (or each other in Jongdae's case) eating their food and talking as a drama played in the background. They were mostly eating in relative peace with Jongdae occasionally yelling at Baekhyun and Baekhyun yelling back, peace only returning until someone covered the others mouth. This went on until Chanyeol started laughing so hard due to Jongdae flicking noodles onto his and Yixing's face that he started to lean into Baekhyun, slapping the other man's knee with zeal.

"Awww you two are so cute!" Jongdae screeched.

"Ah, we're not dating," Baekhyun said, turning red and unaware of Chanyeol's own state of colouring.

"WHAT CHANYEOL YOU SCOUNDREL HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TAKEN HIM ON A DATE?!? WHAT ARE YOU!!!!" Jongdae screeched at Chanyeol who now looked completely taken aback.

"N-no I mean like um..." Baekhyun started, completely flustered. "We're not in a relationship?" he seemed to say questioningly, looking down at chanyeol for confirmation to find him beet red and attemtiong to cover his embarrassment.

"Park. fucking. Chanyeol." Baekhyun said sternly. "Is what they're saying true?" Baekhyun looked down at Chanyeol, whose head was resting in Baekhyun's lap, face covered by his hands. He was now nodding slightly, ears aflame.

"Well then goddamnit sit up here and kiss me. It's about fucking time." Baekhyun almost never swore or was authorative. But Chanyeol loved it and easily complied, only to shove the middle finger in Jongdaes general direction when he started to screech.

|

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon when Chanyeol and Baekhyun found themselves lying on the grass lazily kissing and giggling when they heard the sound of a car engine near by. Baekhyun looked up, since there were no other roads except the one that led to the house for ages. Chanyeol pulled him back into a kiss, slow and nice, making Baekhyun forget about the noise.

that was until they both heard the very distinct voice of one Kim Jongdae, "Chanyeolllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" he screamed. Runing, (trying to) towards the two of them waving around a piece of paper. Both chanyeol and Baekhyun stood up as the man neared, them crouching over to catch his breath. "listen, here, okay, this, this is important,"

"Jongdae, just breattthhheee" Chanyeol said, watching and waiting until he had caught his breath and was able to stand upright. "this is very important all right! I'm missing out on my dance lesson because of this!"

"And boy do you need them," chanyeol muttered, causing himself and Baekhyun to snicker. 

"Not funny, park." Jongdae said, turning to talk to baekhyun.

"Baekhyun, this is really urgent, so you know how you sing the demo tracks that Chanyeol sends into multiple different companies to prepare the artists?"

"yeah, you're an independent producer right Chan?"

"yeah i send them out to multiple companies, whoever buys it keeps it."

"Yeah yeah all that, but we have a problem," jongdae, said, handing over the sheet of paper for chanyeol to read. "one of the big shot producers and some other people, I don't know who they are, went to watch to this new boy group who were dancing then recording called nct or something, since they're promoting these kids hardcore. Anyways, most producers don't give a shit who sings the demo tracks, but-"

"They want to take Baekhyun." Chanyeol finished. His face had visibly sunken. 

"not only that, but they want to make you an idol to," Jongdae addressed Chanyeol. "They're planning to get you to rap, since you usually don't rap in any of your songs they were surprised when they heard it and started digging up all the songs you had sent them in the past. They want to train you to."

Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked back at each other, shock on each of their faces. 

"And they're coming. NOW." 

|

Jongdae quickly ushered the two inside the house, locked all the doors and windows, shoving them both into the kitchen. "Why the hell are we doing this?" Baekhyun asked.

"Well you see, you know how you have no relations, they can make you sign a contract, and poof you work for them now."

"oh well fuck."

"yeah exactly."

"under no circumstances get yourself contracted into that hell hole."

they all looked at each other, seemingly communicating, and yet none of them had no idea as to what to do. Suddenly Chanyeol leaped up. He was frantically grabbing his phone out of his pocket and was scrolling through pictures of people.

"Jongdae, Jongdae, you said they had other random people with them right? How did you know?"

"The group was going into the practice room to record that I was in, so I started to leave and as I was the producer introduced me and yeah all that stuff. why?"

"Did any of them look like this?" Chanyeol held out his phone which had a photo of a man with pale skin, sharp eyes a round face, who couldn't have been more than 25.

"yeah, how did you know?"

"He's a independent scouter who is really good at his job. He's the one who scouted Yixing and that guy named Lu han and the kids in BTS."

"Oh wow,"

"He told me recently that he was going to your company to review their latest group, and to check out what their requirements were for scouting for them, that's why he was there." Chanyeol said frantically scrolling through phone numbers.

"He works with anyone who hires him like i said, but he works closest with you know Joonmyun?" Chanyeol asked, glancing up for only a second.

"Oh yep yep, the CEO of Suho ent?"

"yep that's the one. He works closest with them, and no doubt he's told Joonmyun about Baekhyun."

Chanyeol seemed to have found the phone number he was looking or and started to call it.

"Wait so how do you know Minseok?" Baekhyun asked.

"He scouted me the first time around."

There was an uncomfortable silence as they waited for the phone to stop ringing.

"hello? Minseok?"

"yes Chanyeol!" the voice cried from the other end.

"you went to watch nct yesterday right?"

"yeah,"

"the guy on the demo track..." Chanyeol's question couldn't quite be finished, to afraid of the answer.

"Don't worry, were on our way to your house right now. We're almost there, Joons driving."

"Nice to hear from you again chanyeol," supposedly joonmyun said. "don't worry we're not gonna let them come and get you." At this chanyeol visibly relaxed, shoulders slumping forward as he let out a sigh. 

"Thanks guys."

There were a few minutes of perpetual silence, Chanyeol and Baekhyun hugging tightly, hoping upon hopes that Joonmyun and Minseok would get there first, while Jongdae texted his dance instructor, telling him he was sorry for not making it.

 

A few moments later there was a knock on the door. Jongdae went up to the window and peered out before sighing and flinging the door open. There to greet him were two equally short men quickly grabbing Jongdae making him screech and the other beckoning for Chanyeol and Baekhyun to follow them out to the car.

Once they had all piled in and were sitting some what comfortably, they started to drive back into town, passing by a car with Jongdae's company logo. Making them all sigh in relief of their timing. 

"thank you guys," Chanyeol said, visibly relaxing further.

"no problem. Joonmyun said from the front. "Besides we were hoping to have another opportunity to hire you and this gave us that chance."

Chanyeol nodded in acknowledgement. 

"Wait, why does everyone want to try and hire me this badly?" Baekhyun asked, speaking for the first time in ages. Jongdae, even though he was still rubbing his arm and glaring at minseok, trying to drill holes into the back of his eyes, was surprisingly the one to answer. you see the sort of person that companies are looking for are becoming rarer and rarer and they're finding it hard to find good looking potential soloists who can actually sing well. especially companies like mine focus mainly on looks first."

"Thats definitely true." Minseok said, looking back at them. Jongdae's company in particular prefer to scout for good looking people rather than getting people to audition. It helps guarantee, especially in groups more success, since the people are handsome. Especially since they're trying to minimize plastic surgery."

"Definitely," Joonmyun agreed. "i personally prefer to have people audition, but sometimes you do need to look around to find talented people."

"Wait so you would actually consider training me?" Baekhyun asked.

"yes of course. A voice like yours is hard to come by, especially since you already sound like that with minimal training. Especially in men. currently the only other soloist like that is man sitting next to you. All the others are in groups." 

At the compliment, Jongdae visibly perked up, chest swelling with pride. 

"Don't say that again, Joonmyun, please you'll inflate Jongdae's ego too much." Chanyeol said, making Jongdae slump back and pout at Chanyeol.

Everyone laughed until Joonmyun stopped the car outside a fancy restaurant and ushered everyone out of the car. "come on, let's go in, eat and discuss contracts."

Once everyone was seated and food served , they started talking again. "If we were to hire you Baekhyun, we would like to put you into a duet with Chanyeol."

Chanyeol reached for Baekhyun's hand under the table and squeezed, giving him a small smile. "Is that okay for you?" Baekhyun whispered to chanyeol.

"I know i said I didn't want you in the idol life but, as long as I'm with you I'll be fine."

"oh and please don't be that sappy in front of the fans. or anyone. Please," Minseok cried.

"yeah, um you can keep your residence and we'll try and keep where you live a secret, um, I have no problem with you two dating each other, just please don't make it so obvious. The press will have a field day."

Are you okay with this?" Joonmyun asked. The two looked at each other and nodded, making everyone smile. 

"Where do we sign?"

|

Joonmyun drove them all back to the house, only to have Jongdae scream "OH SHiT!" and suddenly drop further down the chair, making everyone look down at him then up at the house, where they saw At least three representatives knocking on the door. "I left my damn car here oh god they're gonna kill me!"

"Don't worry Jongdae," Joonmyun said as he stopped the car. "If they do find you you and Yixing can come and work under my company, but otherwise just hide in the car for now okay?"

Jongdae seemed to relax for a moment before looking up open mouth and gaping. "how do you know about Yixing and I?!"

"Jongdae, its pretty well known within the industry."

"oh."

|

Everyone albeit Jongdae jumped out of the car to be greeted by the three representatives they saw before. 

"Ah Mr Park!" one of them explained, ignoring both Joonmyun and Minseok completely. "And this one must be mr Byun! hello how are you?" he bowed towards both of them.

"What are you doing on my property?" Chanyeol asked, suddenly turning serious. 

"Ah well, we're were seeing if your friend, mr byun here would be interested in signing with our company!" the mans smile wavered for a moment, as he side eyed joonmyun. 

"Ah I'm sorry but-" Baekhyun was interrupted by someone shouting "No you asshats! they've already signed a company and they're not friends they're BOYfriends! get it right!"

Everyone turned around quickly to check where the noise was coming from, both Chanyeol and Baekhyun looking immediately back at the car, both raising their eyes at Jongdae, Making him quickly drop back to the floor of the car.

"yeah sorry," Baekhyun said turning back, "I've already decided to sign with Joonmyun hyungs company."

At hearing Baekhyun call him hyung Joonmyun's eyebrows shot up. "you know I'm the same age as Minseok right?"

"yeah about 25?" Baekhyun asked.

both of them laughed hysterically, making the three representatives look cautiously at them. "oh my gosh! 25! 25! minnie 25!" Even Chanyeol was laughing a bit at Baekhyun's confused face.

"Baekhyun, theyre both 33." Chanyeol whispered. Slowly Baekhyun's eyes widened as he turned his head towards Chanyeol.

"they- theyre 10 years older than us?" Baekhyun asked, eyes impossibly wide. 

Chanyeol fell onto the gravel road with Minseok and Joonmyun, laughing so hard his stomach hurt.

|

Almost a year later

|

Chanyeol was so jittery with nerves, clutching hard at Baekhyun's hand as the other circled around his guitar. "Calm down Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, even though he was fighting his own nerves.

"I can'tttt," the taller whined.

"Okay, okay, you ready?" Baekhyun asked as the MC started to announce them. "Please welcome nought and cross! Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun!"

Chanyeol leaned down to peck Baekhyun's lips. "I am now." they looked at each other and smiled, moving out towards the stage and bowing towards the fans. 

"Hello we are X and O!" they both said. "Our song is called hello angel!"

"hello Angel, you’re like a painting. You’re all I see when I look to the skies..."


End file.
